Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) sponsored

Centre of Excellence for

Integrated Land use Planning and Water Resource Management (ILPWRM)
Civil Engineering Department
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GUWAHATI

Stress on land and water resources is gradually

increasing due to rapid urbanization. Consequently
many of its adverse effects have been surfacing
over the recent times. Frequent occurrence of
floods is one of the major problems in urban
centres endowed with heavy rainfall such as
Guwahati and the nuisance it creates has been
very much evident. However in winters these
urban centres face acute shortage of water.
In such a scenario, implementing roof top rain
water harvesting system (RTRWH) in urban
households can be a smart option.

Definition
Rain water harvesting is a technique of collection
and storage of rain water in surface (storage
tanks) or sub surface aquifer before it is lost as
surface runoff.

• Reduces the runoff volume and the peak flow,

hence mitigate floods.
Why adopt rain • Recharges ground water thus is a solution to
water harvesting
water shortage problem in winters.
• Reduces the cost per litre of water since a
system? large amount of power that is consumed while
pumping water from subsurface aquifers can
be saved.

Rain water harvesting scheme with its numerous individual as well as community benefits can
be an effective tool in developing a sustainable urban environment.
 DESIGN CONCEPT OF RTRWH

The rooftop RWH System comprises of a Figure 1 shows that longer the duration of a storm
guttering and down pipe system to collect the event lesser is the intensity. Thus, it was
rainwater from the rooftop of houses. This necessary to know the storm that will produce
water can be stored in the RWH tank for daily maximum runoff volume from a given area. Volume
use or can be diverted to either existing wells/ generated by storm of different duration was
tube wells or especially designed infiltration computed to develop a relationship between
well, i.e. percolation pits. duration of rainfall and volume of runoff (Fig-2).
Utilizing this relationship, design storm for the
A flushing arrangement has to be provided for purpose of deciding tank size was obtained. The
the first showers in order to drain out the duration and intensity of the design storm was
accumulated unwanted materials from roof top found as 5 hr and 17.26mm/hr respectively.
such as dried and fallen leaves, bird’s drop,
etc.
Design summary of the rooftop rain water
A study has been conducted on a pilot harvesting system
watershed of Hatigarh Chariali of Guwahati in
order to design rain water harvesting system The volume of water collected at the roof of a
(Sarma and Goswami, 2006). The maximum- house is given by
intensity-duration relationship (Fig-1),
developed from this study, has been used for
design of RTRWH system. Size of the storage
Where,
tank has been designed to accommodate
i=intensity of 5 hr duration rainfall = 17.26 mm/hr
maximum expected volume for a rainfall event.
A = area of roof (m2),
Intensity- duration relationship
D=duration of rainfall,i.e.5hr.
The quantity of water collected per square meter of
roof is given by

Design calculations
For a 5hr duration rain with intensity of
17.26 mm/hr, the quantity collected per square me-
ter of roof is 0.09 m3 which may be approximated
Fig-1: Maximum Intensity-Duration curve as 0.10 m3/m2. If storage tanks of one meter depth
are used to store the rainfall volume, the area of
Design storm for maximum total volume RWH tank has to be 10% of the roof top area.

Socio-economic perspective
A socio-economic survey of the pilot watershed
(Sarma et al. 2006) indicated that most of the
households were profoundly interested in
implementing rain water harvesting scheme,
though their response regarding investment
patterns was varied. Keeping in view the probable
investment patterns and utility perspective six
schemes are presented hereafter.
Fig-2: Volume generated by rainfall
 PROPOSED SCHEMES

Scheme: 1 
This system is proposed for those having/willing to have
an elevated storage tank along with a pumping device. In
this system, the first tank is placed just below the roof
level to collect the rainwater from roof top through filter
medium. Overflow of tank no.1 is diverted to tank no.2
Scheme: 1
that is to be constructed above ground surface in order
to store the excess water for domestic use. It is also Advantages Disadvantages
possible to release water during heavy rainfall to Reduction of peak flow Initial cost
recharge ground water table. Free use of water is more
Reduction in pumping costs
Recharge of ground water table

Scheme: 2 
In this system the RWH tank is to be constructed
above the ground surface. The rainwater would be
Scheme: 2
Scheme: 2 collected from the roof top by means of guttering and
down pipe system through filtering medium. The water
can be used for domestic purpose either directly or has
Advantages Disadvantages
to be pumped into an inside storage chamber. During
Reduction of peak flow Pumping provi-
Recharge of the ground water table sion must be heavy rainfall the release valve should be kept open for
present.
Partial reduction in pumping costs recharging the ground water.

Scheme: 3 
This system is proposed for those who do not have any
pumping and storage system. Rainwater is to be
collected from the rooftop through a filter medium in a
RWH tank located a ground and can be used for
domestic purpose. Provisions are to be made to divert Scheme: 3
the excess water to an existing well, nearby, for ground
water recharge through overflow pipe or release valve. Advantages Disadvantages
Reduction of peak flow No inside
Recharge of the ground water table supply
Free use of water without pumping

Scheme: 4 
This is an independent RWH arrangement, which
does not affect the existing pumping and storage
Scheme: 4 system. The rainwater is to be collected from the
rooftop, through the existing drain pipe, in an up
Advantages Disadvantages
level RWH tank through filter medium. The water
Reduction of peak flow Higher investment from the tank can be used by gravity force instead of
Recharge of the ground water table in staging pumping. Overflow of the tank would be diverted to
Free use of water without pumping recharge the ground water table.
 Scheme: 5 
The rainwater is to be collected from the
rooftop, through the existing drain pipe, in an up
level RWH tank through filter medium. A
parabolic dish solar heater is installed suitably
above the RWH tank. The treated water which Scheme: 5
is subjected to heating can be used for
domestic purpose
Advantages  Disadvantages
Reduction of peak flow Apparently nil except
Recharge of the ground water table initial high Investment
Power required for electrical heating
system can be saved

Scheme: 6 
This system is particularly suitable for
multi-storied complexes. In absence of sump,
open well or deep tube well, the rainwater
Scheme: 6 collected from roof top may be recharged
through percolation pits. Existing drain pipe
Advantages Disadvantages is sufficient to divert the rainwater to the
Reduction of peak flow Suitable only for re- percolation pits. The bottom of the pit should be
Recharge of the ground water charging the ground
table water table in a sandy formation. A bore hole is to be drilled
No special arrangement is needed at the bottom of the percolation pit filled with
Less expensive
brickbat, pebbles etc.

With a growing urge to establish harmony with nature Human

minds with their capacity to reason and innovate have to
devise a sustainable framework for developmental activities.
Adopting practices such as rain water harvesting schemes at
both individual and community level can be an effective step
towards sustainability.

Guiding Raindrop Effectively Enhance Nature

With a dream for a greener tomorrow

References:

Sarma A.K., Giraud G., Baishya M.D., Rainwater Harvesting for Urban Flood Peak Reduction, My Green Earth-a Jour-
nal of Society for Socio Economic Awareness and Environment Protection, SSEAEP, Dec 2006, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp
14-21
Sarma A.K. and Goswami P., Developing Intensity Duration Curve with Limited Rainfall Data, In the Book Predictions in
Ungauged Basins for Sustainable Water Resource Planning and Management, Jain Brothers, New Delhi,
November 2006, pp. 187-194, ISBN:81-8360-044-1

For further details contact Prof. A.K. Sarma, Principal Investigator, CoE, (ILPWRM), email: aks@iitg.ernet.in